Doesn't Recommend

pramos28

Joined 3 years ago

miss you. We used to have a true love affair. My last experience was a disaster, obviously something has changed.

I heard the music, I fought it, it couldnt be.

I dont think house music is bad, but I was never aware of fans of house music loving german food.

The staff is odd.

I loved the food here so much.

It breaks my heart. Brat voyage, maybe some day things will change again and you will be worth the tolls and hour drive into the city again, you were once a destination for me. :-(

Doesn't Recommend

FOODHUNT

Joined 3 years ago

Good Bye Berlin!. If there was a way to give this hole less than one star I would where to begin.... first of all there is no beer garden- it's a tiny back porch. The temperature in the restaurant was sweltering and the music was hip hop at club volume. I think that covers the most pleasent part of the evening. Now the food over cooked, over salted and laugably small portions.

Now the truly special part the service. It took 2 and a half hours to sit, eat and get a check. We gave up on ordering dessert because that would have taken three hours. After making reservations we waited a half hour not because there was a line we were being ignored. At the end of the half hour a group of men, we were all women. came in were seated immediately in the table we were staring at for the last half hour. When we were seated the heavy set Blond e waitress eventually came to our table. She asked us for orders saw the men sitting at the table outside and walked away without taking our orders to serve the men. It took another 45 minutes and repeatedly going to the bar to ask for service to get any. In addition at one point the waitress came back to inform us she was busy and didn't have time to take our orders. NEVER AGAIN!!

Doesn't Recommend

LJNurse

Joined 3 years ago

Weird Service Experience, Mediocre Food, Bad Beer Selection. I went to Hallo Berlin this evening with my fiance, my brother, and his girlfriend. Hallo Berlin is really not so much a beer hall as a German restaurant with mediocre food and a small back patio. We had a strange experience with the service: there were 2 servers assigned to the back patio, but only 1 of them was willing to come to our table. The other server (tall, glasses, bald) went to every table on the back patio except for ours. We had to flag him down just to get a glass of water. When we pointed out the lopsided service, we were told that this server was recently involved in some sort of altercation and was not feeling well. This may be true, but we couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with our party being the only one in the restaurant with dark skin. We observed the other tables on the patio receiving much more consistent service from this person, which does not mesh with the explanation we were given.

There are other reasons to consider other restaurants in the area before going to Hallo Berlin: Only a portion of the beers on the menu were available (about 6 beers), so you are likely to find a better selection at any of the bars further up on 10th or on 9th avenue. The sausages were good, but it's hard to mess up sausage. The schnitzel was over cooked, tough, and bland. The prices are not any less expensive than the rest of the neighborhood (around $20 for a dinner plate). If you are looking for a real beer hall, you will be disappointed. The restaurant next door looked very nice and we will probably try that place the next time we're in the neighborhood.

Doesn't Recommend

CDJ2006

Joined 3 years ago

Terrible Service, Less Than Mediocre Food/Drink. TERRIBLE!

Just went last night. It was a fine time, but nothing special. The beer was good, the food was mediocre. Surprisingly unhorrendous karaoke.

The problem is that we were overcharged (4 steins!), and we did not realize until the next day since we had been busy splitting up the check the night before.

My husband called this morning and was unable to get a refund over the phone, despite the fact that we had spent a fair amount of money there the night before. So later, when the manager was in, he trekked back down to Hallo Berlin. The waiter was extremely defensive, the assistant manager was pretty useless, and the manager stood by without helping. In the end, he received a store credit for only 3 of the 4 steins.

Although we'd rather not return, I guess we will just on principle. After that, though, never again!

Make sure to check your receipt before leaving!

Doesn't Recommend

NJ Analyst

Joined 4 years ago

Not worth it. I enjoy good German food but I was disappointed at Hallo Berlin. When I arrived, there was only one other table occupied but I was asked to sit at a very small table with a broken folding chair! The beer selection is good but at $8 for a pint it is as expensive as a hotel bar. I ordered Jaegerschnitzel and it came with spatzle that looked and tasted like spaghetti. The bread was stale. The waiter was inattentive. Overall, a great disappointment. Not recommended.

Doesn't Recommend

osiris0677

Joined 6 years ago

Terrible, worst German food I've ever had. ve had the Hallo Berlin cart which was not bad but Hallo Berlin Express is terrible. The schnitzel was greasy…I order jager schnitzel which should have come with a mushroom gravy and they brought out regular schnitzel. The spaetzle was not like any spaetzle I’ve ever seen, theirs was just some potato they cut up and pan fried.

They gave me like a tablespoon of red cabbage, cucumber salad and string beans. Geez, thanks. It took nearly 10 minutes for the waiter to come and visit me after I sat down.

Without a doubt the worst German food I’ve ever had.

Doesn't Recommend

fh10867

Joined 4 years ago

Possibly the worst German food in NYC. My friend and I had dinner at Hallo Berlin Express yesterday. It was a horrible experience. I ordered the Jaegerschnitzel and my friend the platter with 2 sausages. Those dinner dishes come with the soup of the day. The waiter never asked what soup we wanted, and we had to call him back to our table. We chose the split pea soup. It was made with yellow peas and didn't have a single piece of meat in it. This was not an authentic German split pea soup. The waiter also didn't bring us any spoons and we had to get them ourselves. We weren't even finished with our soups when the main dishes arrived. My Jaegerschnitzel was probably a 3 oz piece of pork pounded to 1/10 of an inch thickness and then breaded. It was very tough. I still don't know what kind of gravy they poured on top. I am German and this was anything but a Jaegersauce. It appeared to be a cheese sauce with little mushroom and a sprinkle of curried ketchup on top. Also, the spaetzle must have been cooked earlier and then fried in a pan. Again, not authentic German.

One of the sausages my friend had was supposed to be a Berliner Currywurst, yet it was a simple Bratwurst, no curry powder and no ketchup on top. The sausages tasted not bad, but frying a sausage is not rocket science. The waiter never asked us if we needed anything or if the food was ok. Needless to say, we didn't leave a tip. In my over 14 years in NYC this was the first time that I didn't leave a tip. One more thing, the tap beer was very good, but a little pricey, $8 for a 16oz mug. The beer was the only authentic German thing in this place. I will definitely not go back and can't recommend this place to anyone.

Doesn't Recommend

baxley

Joined 4 years ago

Stay away!!! Disgusting (Non-German) Food, terrible service!. I went to ?Hallo Berlin? for dinner this weekend with a friend. We did not get seated right away because there was no one around. It took a few minutes until someone brought us to a tiny table close to the restrooms, where definitely no one wants to sit. When we tried to move to another table, the waitress made clear that we cannot sit at a table for four persons because they expect a lot of people on a Saturday night, who come in bigger groups (?the table stayed empty all the time we were there). When we ordered ?Curry Wurst?, the waitress gave us a small dry roll, with a small disgusting, inedible sausage and Sauerkraut and red cabbage on top. It was the worst German food that I have ever had in the city. The whole place looks trashy, it is ice cold in there (very uncomfortable when you always start to shake while eating) and not really clean. The food is revolting, not traditionally German, small portions and too expensive (we paid $6 for the so-called Curry Wurst that was smaller than a Hot Dog from the street) and they do not have everything that is on the menu card. I would definitely not recommend this place to anyone, it is a waste of money and time.

Recommends

ouddatowner

Joined 5 years ago

it is worth the walk. I guess I chose the right time to show up, i.e. early evening. I loved the rollmops and the salads. Yes, maybe if you want high-end stuff, go somewhere else, but the service was fine and the food was great. Like rollmops for some, it's an acquired taste.

Recommends

wisebrain

Joined 6 years ago

Far away from subway, not worth the walk. Honestly, this place is good, but it is way hyped up and the food is expensive! i'd rather get a bratwurst from a food vendor.